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Principal gone, North High reels with calls for redesign

Sometime over the summer, calls to save North High School weretransformed into calls to fire its teachers and administrators. Then,in a surprise move, North High principal Darlene LeDoux was removed forwhat the district called medical reasons. Seasoned observers calledLeDoux’s dramatic exit a political sop thrown to critics.But groups calling for such drastic measures have offered no evidencethat those firings, called somewhat optimistically “redesign” wouldoffer improvement over the current state of affairs at North.In fact, according to former North Principal Darlene LeDoux, North,which is in the midst of an aggressive reform plan, is improving. Thenumbers show that North’s test scores are improving much more rapidlythan Denver high schools on average.One of the groups calling for heads at North is Northwest Parents forExcellent Schools, but the only board member of the organization thatis a North parent disagrees with the organization’s position. In fact,neither Northwest Parents or Padres Unidos, another group calling forchange, could produce a current North parent calling for redesign.And firing everyone at North wouldn’t necessarily equate to change,either. Over half of the teachers at North are new in the past fouryears. North High’s $300,000 reform plan, guided by nationally recognizedexperts from the Education Trust, is in just its second year ofimplementation, and is well short of its ultimate form. And while thepace of reform might disappoint, few can criticize innovative stepslike North’s Summer Enrichment Academy, where 42 incoming ninth gradersgot instruction and encouragement to move them ahead in grade levelsand “give them study skills and confidence,” according to LeDoux.Counseling at North has undergone what LeDoux terms a transformation,going beyond scheduling and working towards preparing students forcollege and careers.Teachers at North are also undergoing changes, including somethingcalled “Standards in Practice.” At its core, teachers are peerreviewing lesson plans, and make sure that they are aligned with staterequirements. “We look at what is going on in the classroom now andreplace the assignments with rigourous, standards-aligned work,”according to the Education Trust’s white paper on the program.Classes are redesigned too, with remedial classes now gone from theschool’s master schedule. Low achieving kids get experienced teachers,and accelerated courses are married to less ambitious offerings, givingall students an opportunity to aim high, a key goal according to LeDoux.Padres Unidos produced a parent of a former North student who supported“redesign” at North. Through a translator, she said teachers at Northdid not meet her son’s needs and weren’t available. When pressed, shecould not produce a specific example of how teachers failed to beavailable.According to Diane Medina, Northwest Parents’ director, “Some teachersat North are the problem. I would say that there are (some) who maybeneed to think about whether North is the right place for them. There(are) a significant number who need to think about going somewhereelse.” Yet Medina hadn’t identified where funding would come from forNorth’s redesign. “I have no idea. I bet you they could find the moneyfor that.”Medina also could not point to any examples where “redesigned” high schools led to improvements in student achievement.Money remains a pressing question for North’s reform plans. A grantfrom the Daniels Foundation of $150,000 was matched by the district tofund the current effort. But there are no future funds currentlydesignated, and the promising summer program won’t happen next yearwithout new dollars.

ed.’s note: Darlene LeDoux was removed as North’s principal less thanthree hours after the interview at the heart of the story wasconducted. During the interview, LeDoux’s health did not appear to bean issue, and she was fully committed to implementing reform at Northand leading the school. A podcast of the interview will be available atnorthdenvernews.com.